On August 13, 2001, the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology officially published its S&T Plan for the west development during the 10th Five-Year Plan period(2001-2005). The Plan has outlined the scientific and coordinated deployment on guiding principles, major objectives, priority key S&T issues and tasks and associated policies for the S&T activities in the west development in the coming five years.

The S&T activities in the west region during the 10th period will focus on R&D innovations capacity building while strengthening the S&T support for the environment and infrastructures constructions in the region. The Plan calls for the remarkable improvement of R&D innovation capacity, addressing major technical bottleneck issues encountered in the ecological environment and infrastructure construction, achieving fruitful progress in high tech industrial development, building up a high quality R&D personnel contingent and further optimizing R&D innovation and pioneering environment in the west.

The Plan has proposed for the first time the high tech development pattern which is the so-called 'two belts-one city-two township' pattern, namely the high tech industrial belts of Chengdu-Deyang-Mianyang of Sichuan Province and the middle section of Shaan'xi Province, and the city of Chongqing Municipality and Mianyang S&T Township and Yangling Agricultural Science Township. These priority areas are supposed to play a radiation role in accelerating the high tech industrial development in the west. In addition, priorities will be given to the integrated ecological control and R&D demonstration focusing on typical natural ecological zones, the special industrial development cored with value added conversion of advantageous resources in the west and support for the development of regional S&T innovation bases enjoying the cooperation between the east and the west.

To ensure the smooth implementation of the Plan, the state will, during the 10th Five-Year Plan period, continue to enhance its input in S&T activities in the west through coordinated and integrated support of major national S&T programs.

In the meanwhile, under the support of the national key technology R&D program, 12 provinces(or autonomous regions, or municipalities) and Xinjiang Production and Construction Corp in the west region have worked out their respective S&T development plans tailored to their own development patterns for different sectors and at different levels. These plans are the first of their kinds in the west S&T development.